Chapter 24

“It’s been a long time, Woonjeong.”

The man, who had fallen from the ceiling like a black thunderbolt and crushed the Dread King’s envoy, snapped his coat with a crisp, measured motion. 

Splash. 

The blood that had spattered his body flew onto the floor. The sunlight, pouring through the hole in the ceiling, illuminated his pale face, making the fresh bloodstains stand out in sharp relief. The arrogant smile on his face was almost bewitching.

“…’Woonjeong’?”

Who in all the world could so easily bypass the heavy security of the Great General’s Headquarters, obliterate the Dread King’s envoy, and dare to speak the name of the Great General Regent so familiarly?

Amidst the stunned crowd, Moyong Ho, Moyong Woonjeong’s brother, whipped his head around to look at her. “Sister! Do you know him?!”

The boy in her memories was smarter than anyone, but also more fragile than anyone. He was like a single drop of dew, resting gently on a blade of grass in the early dawn. A child with a fleeting air, as if he might evaporate in the morning sun and vanish at any moment. But… even so, how could she not recognize him?

“…It’s him.”

“Him? Who—”

“How dare you…!” Moyong Ho’s question was cut off by the members of the envoy’s delegation, who had been momentarily frozen in shock. “You’ve harmed the Dread King’s envoy…!” 

Clang clang clang clang! 

As they drew their blades in unison, the soldiers of the Great General’s Headquarters reflexively drew their own. However, the unidentified man had landed right in the middle of the envoy’s delegation. The headquarters’ soldiers couldn’t make a rash move.

“Who the hell are you?!”

As expected of men who lived by pillage and had their bones hardened on the battlefield, their formation, a wall of blades surrounding him, was ferocious. But the scoffing laugh that rang out from the center of that steel embrace was utterly, impossibly relaxed.

“You bastard!”

Just as the envoy’s guard captain’s face contorted in an demonic rage, the man’s clear, bright voice flowed out. “I am…”

Which came first?

The voice or his sleeve, fluttering like a butterfly’s wing, his pale, slender fingertips touching one of the blades that surrounded him?

“The one and only son of the Medicine Fairy, Yak So-yu, who is herself an incarnation of the Medicine Buddha.”

Gently, as if a leaf, scattered by the wind, had settled on the surface of a pond, his hand lightly pushed the blade.

“—Keoheok?!”

But what erupted from that light touch was an unprecedented surge of internal force. The warrior’s wrist was instantly twisted, his elbow dislocated, and his shoulder ripped from its socket. And that was only the beginning of the chaos.

“I am the eldest son of the Number One Sword under the Heavens, whose great name is renowned throughout the world.”

The dark blade he had pushed struck the blade of the comrade next to it, which in turn struck the next, and the next. The wall of steel, in an instant, became like a ring of skiffs caught in a violent tempest from the South Sea, reeling and collapsing in on itself. 

Clang clang clang clang! 

A deafening metallic clamor, enough to numb the ears, erupted from the clashing blades. The light glinting off the swords, as they were all forced in one direction as if by a choreographer’s design, dazzled and confused everyone’s eyes.

“What kind of bullshit are you spouting?!” Through the chaos, like a galleon smashing through the storm, the guard captain’s blade lunged forward with a thunderous roar. It was a strike (斬擊) that truly tore the waves and split the wind. But,

“Bullshit, you ask?” 

Clang. 

His blade was stopped, almost anticlimactically.

“I am introducing myself, am I not?”

It was blocked by an object that shot out from the man’s sleeve.

“A scroll?”

Before anyone in the room could even identify it,

“Yiik—!” The guard captain, who had already recognized his opponent’s high-level martial arts from the first exchange, was already striking with his off-hand weapon.

“Or…”

But that, too, was blocked by the bizarre, twisting movements of the scroll.

“(Or do I need to speak in your tongue, barbarian of the North?)”

Beyond the scroll that had blocked both his sword and dagger, he could clearly see the sneer on the man’s pale face. 

Thud thud thud! 

With a grinding of yellowed teeth, the guard captain lunged, grabbing the scroll with his bare hand.

“(You arrogant little brat from the Central Plains—!)”

“(I’ll grind your corpse into horse feed!)”

The other warriors, who had been pushed back, seized the opening and charged in, raising their hand-axes.

“(I am the rightful heir of the Yeon bloodline, which rules Luoyang and governs the Hebei region—)”

As the clear voice continued, the captured scroll thrashed like a great fish pulled onto land.

“Ueup—!” The guard captain, flustered, let go of the scroll to grab his opponent’s wrist instead, while simultaneously jabbing with his other hand—now free of its dagger—to seize his opponent’s empty hand and strike his vital points.

“(I am the Grand Young Master of the great Luoyang Sword Clan—)”

But the man’s bizarre Grappling Hand made his own hands feel clumsy and lost. In an instant, he was struck in the jaw, kicked in the knee, and punched twice in the abdomen.

“Keohop—!”

As the guard captain recoiled, spraying a bloody foam mixed with bits of his own innards, the hand-axes, accompanied by strange cries, closed in.

“Hup!”

With a low grunt, the black silk coat the man was wearing spun in place, clang clang clang!, deflecting the axes and sending savage sparks flying in all directions.

“(Now!)”

From the second line, warriors who had been hiding behind their comrades, waiting for this moment, threw their grappling hooks. But the scroll, still in the man’s hand, unfurled as he spun, swish—, and deflected the hooks as well.

“That’s—?!” Someone in the Great General’s Headquarters, recognizing the unfurled scroll, stared wide-eyed. “His Majesty the Emperor’s Edict—?!”

“(And I am also—)” The clear voice continued, without a single hitch in his breath. “(—here by His Majesty’s command—)” The first thing to be separated was the guard captain’s head. “(—to subjugate and punish the North.)”

And then… Clatter clatter! With the sound of weapons clattering to the ground, blood erupted like fountains. The warriors who had surrounded him were simultaneously dismembered, collapsing where they stood. Swoosh! 

The imperial edict, unstained by a single drop of blood, retracted as if it were being inhaled. Only then, did the people in the room realize, that it was the edict itself that had dismembered the warriors.

That the moment it unfurled, was the moment of the draw.

Standing in the center of the dismembered bodies and the sea of blood, bathed in the pouring sunlight, he smiled.

“(I am Yeon So-hyeon.)”

Of course, no answer came. But for everyone in that room who had not known him, the name Yeon So-hyeon was now carved into their minds, never to be forgotten.

“That… that is…”

“Yes.”

At Moyong Ho’s words, Moyong Woonjeong, her cold expression replaced by a bright smile, nodded. “That is him.” Before Moyong Ho or anyone else could speak, Moyong Woonjeong’s command, sharp as frost, fell. “Behead every last one of them. Mount their heads outside the camp, and send only their bodies back on a cart!”

***

Inner Chamber.

“If the Third Young Master of the Luoyang Sword Clan has truly allied with the Dread King, as the envoy had claimed…”

“But we now have the Grand Young Master.”

The faint murmur of generals’ discussion could be heard from the meeting hall outside, but for the moment, Moyong Woonjeong chose to ignore the outside world.

She had removed her helmet and sat at the table, struggling to find her first words. “Grand Young Master,” she began, “you have become quite striking.”

Her words felt awkward. It was the formal, high-class speech she had learned as a child, but it felt foreign on her tongue. The armor, which she had always maintained as a symbol of her pride, now felt embarrassing because of the worn, hand-stained plates.

“Is that so?” Yeon So-hyeon placed a freshly brewed teacup in front of her. He sat opposite her, smiling comfortably. “For someone who supposedly ‘barely recognized’ me,” he said, “you seemed to know who I was the instant our eyes met.”

“That’s…”

It was difficult to meet his smile. She averted her gaze, her face flushing as she mumbled. No one would have ever imagined the steely-faced Great General Regent of the North to appear like this. If her brother Moyong Ho had witnessed it, he would have fainted from shock. “Keum.” She fumbled for a response, her gaze darting around before finally settling back on his face. The man was savoring the tea’s aroma, his long eyelashes resting on his cheeks. Somehow, her own heart, like the scent of tea filling the room, began to calm down, becoming soft and peaceful.

‘…I see.’ 

It had been this way since she first met him as a child. Regardless of her state of mind, even without any special conversation, simply being with him felt comforting and safe. It was the cozy, secure feeling of sitting by a warm fireplace, wrapped in blankets, while a cold north wind howled outside.

After savoring the tea with him, her words came naturally. “More than your appearance, it’s your heart that seems to have changed.”

“My heart.”

His gaze met hers, and she smiled, speaking freely. “When you were young, you were just like a timid, gentle rabbit. You seemed to carry the world’s worries on your shoulders.” Compared to the man he was now, the battle he had just displayed, it was so far removed from the Yeon So-hyeon of her imagination.

“Haha. Is that so?”

Even the way he laughed was different.

“Why… why did you change your mind and end your seclusion?” She hadn’t intended it to sound like a rebuke or resentment—Why did you break your seclusion and go back on your promise to become my husband?—but she realized it could. She bit her lip slightly, waiting for his answer.

“Why, you ask.” Whether he sensed her inner turmoil or not, he mulled over the question, idly toying with his teacup. “Everything will be alright.”

“Pardon?” His sudden answer made her eyes waver.

“Woonjeong. That’s what you used to say to me, like a habit.”

“Did I?”

“You did.”

Moyong Woonjeong tilted her head slightly. She assumed she had just forgotten, as her memory wasn’t as sharp as his. She could never have imagined that those were the words she had said to him, back when they were husband and wife, before he returned.

“Now, I will make everything alright.” Yeon So-hyeon spoke each word, clear and distinct. “I am doing this so that I can play for you, just like always.”

—“Elder brother, when I return, please play for me, just like always.”

He returned the words she had given him, the words he had treasured for so long. “I ended my seclusion so that I could say this to you.” Yeon So-hyeon spoke the words, as if making a vow to himself.